Our Director, Annie Fisher, recently wrote a report for the local paper.
Social injustice is the unequal treatment of a group of people within a society, which results in one group being at a disadvantage, and it permeates many societies and their institutions.
This month I have been trying to assist with a situation which has arisen for one of our clients here @The Hub. It is an unpleasant scenario, involving a local private landlord and the bullying and scaremongering tactics he is employing to try to extort money from a young, female, ex-tenant. The details cannot be shared, as the case is ongoing.
However, it is the raging social injustice and misogyny of this that has been keeping me awake at night. The tactics employed would simply not have been used if the tenant were an older male, from a similar background to the landlord in question.
His illegal, immoral and ill-advised actions have caused what could have been a simple process to become a difficult and emotionally fraught situation, leaving my client in distress, with rapidly escalating mental health issues.
In an October 1932 address, future president Franklin D. Roosevelt highlighted the pitfalls of a philosophy he labelled “letting things alone.” This leads to the “survival of the so-called fittest” at the expense of the more vulnerable people in society, he said. He proposed an alternative philosophy – “social justice through social action,” which “results in the protection of humanity.” He concluded by saying that society “must and shall choose the path to social justice” – words that are still relevant almost 100 years on.
You can rest assured that we will NEVER “let things alone”, we will always take the path to social justice, and we will always protect the more vulnerable in our society. We are not going away – we are here for the long haul.
Another example of local social injustice is the complete absence of any NHS dentists in Ross-on-Wye and surrounding areas. The ramifications of this will be felt by our children and grandchildren for years to come. This issue is so severe that families are having to use the food bank because they have spent their food budget for the month on dental care for their children. The lack of NHS appointments has hit people on low incomes hardest, meaning they are less likely to have dental treatment than those on higher incomes.
The national director at Healthwatch England said “The shortage of NHS appointments is creating a two-tier dental system, which widens inequalities and damages the health of the most disadvantaged communities. With millions of households bearing the brunt of the escalating living costs, private treatment is simply not an option, and even NHS charges can be a challenge.”
NHS Dentistry is in desperate need of reform. The present and previous governments are failing those who are most in need of help. Please reach out to us if we can support you in any way.